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State wrestling tournament kicks off for Brush, Wiggins

By Brandon Boles

Times Sports Reporter

Posted:
02/16/2017 05:51:32 PM MST

Brush sophomore Oswaldo Nunez (top) prepares to roll Isaiah Baber of Lamar over in the second period to win by fall in the preliminary round of the 3A 126-pound bracket at the state wrestling tournament on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

The 2017 state wrestling tournament opened at the Pepsi Center on Thursday with preliminary round matches. Class 2A and 3A hit the mats in the afternoon session and saw 224 wrestlers looking to take the next step towards a state championship.

A total of 10 wrestlers from Morgan County hit the mats in the session, with six wrestlers from Brush and four from Wiggins competing.

Strong start for Beetdiggers

Brush got started with Caleb Cox, who's looking to make a return trip to the finals Saturday night. In his first match at 113 versus Logan Mayberry of Delta, he opened with a 5-0 lead following a takedown and back points. Cox would finish with a win by majority decision 11-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the next round, he will face Alexxander Vigil of Sheridan, who won by decision 4-3.

The first win by fall in the tournament went to Oswaldo Nunez in his match at 126 pounds with Isaiah Baber of Lamar. Nunez had little trouble staying on top of Baber and rolled him over to win by fall at 2:40. Cameron Wolters of Buena Vista is next in the quarterfinals Friday morning.

A close first-round match took place for Colin Cole at 120 against JT Latham of Grand Valley. Cole eventually broke a long, scoreless stretch and took a 3-0 lead late in the third period. When Latham escaped late, he worked furiously to land a takedown in the final seconds to tie the match, but Cole avoided it and took the back for two final points in the final five seconds to win by decision 5-1. His next match will be against the No. 2 seed in the bracket, Presiliano Maez of Sheridan.

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Wyatt Pfau made it four straight wins for Brush, though he nearly lost it a couple of times to his opponent from Olathe at 152. Pfau controlled the action in the first round to lead 4-0 and tried to roll Keenan Mansker from the bottom to get the pin. A couple of times, it was Mansker who found himself on top and in danger of handing Pfau a tough loss.

Despite the two reversals and not being able to escape from bottom position in the third period, Pfau held on to win by decision 9-5 and will move on to face Logan Kenline of Florence in the quarterfinals.

Wiggins sophomore Bano Villareal circles the mat in his match with JD Chamblin of Manzanola at the 2017 state wrestling tournament at the Pepsi Center on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

The first match that Brush would lose came at 160, when Jeron Petterson faced Maxx Demann of Rifle. Demann got an early takedown and used the cradle to jump in front 7-0 in the first period. Another cradle in the second finished the match. Petterson now faces Justin Morrison of Eagle Valley.

Another tough match followed at 195 pounds with Josiah Fuentes facing the No. 2 seeded Bart Gruenloh of Lamar. A quick takedown led to a pin in 46 seconds for Gruenloh, who sends Fuentes to the consolation bracket to face Zendol Bernal of Alamosa.

Wiggins gets one in the quarterfinals

Four tough opponents challenged the Tigers in the opening round of the state tournament. As a result, the team went 1-3 in the round and will look to battle back in the consolation bracket on Friday.

The lone win for the Tigers came from Cameron Holm at 126 versus Chris Lovato of Hotchkiss. Holm quickly jumped in front 5-0 and led most of the way as he went on to win by majority decision 15-4. Up next is the No. 1 seed in the bracket, Jonathan Andreatta of John Mall, who goes into the match with a 34-0 record.

Cael Croissant started his match at 120 with a takedown but Brandon Ward of Dolores Huerta escaped to neutral position and landed his own takedown to lead 3-2 at the end of the first period. From there, Ward was on top for most of the next two rounds and got back points to get a 13-4 majority decision win, moving Croissant to the consolation bracket to face Daniel Esquer of Sierra Grande.

Jagger Dinis and Bano Villareal both made their state debuts at 220 and 285 and both will look to get back in the win column in the consolation bracket. Dinis faced Enriquez Romero of Rocky Ford and lost by fall in 1:09, while Villareal lost by fall to JD Chamblin of Manzanola in 1:05.

Friday morning schedule

Wrestling continues for class 2A and 3A at 9:30 p.m. with the championship quarterfinals. First-round consolation matches will immediately follow.

For results from Fort Morgan's wrestling session that took place Friday evening, visit fortmorgantimes.com.

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